A Week in Arutomare
by PikachuGunner
Summary: A journal that follows the journey and misadventures of a scuba-diving, photographer tourist named Steven, on his two week spring break trip, the final week of which is in a Venice-like city called Arutomare, unaware of what he's getting himself into.
1. Chapter 1: Spring Break

Finally...the time that every student waits for was coming close. No, not summer. Spring break was just a week away! Two weeks to do what I wanted to. I knew what I was going to do. I was going to go on a cruise. I was 17 and had a job, so I could afford this. To where? Well, I didn't know that, but I had a while to decide. Time to use every student's almighty tool, the internet. Okay, I might be exaggerating a bit, but oh, well.

Wow, there's quite a few options. Let's see, a Caribbean cruise. Nah...everybody goes to the Caribbean.  
>A Hawaiian cruise. Eh...all the islands with the natives. I didn't know any Hawaiian. I'll have to keep that one in mind, though.<p>

Bahamas. Hmm...that might be nice. Oh, drat. They're all sold out.

European. Well, that might be interesting. One of them went to Venice for one of the days. Venice always fascinated me. An entire city, with water transport, only walking or sailing. Besides, I knew some Italian. I looked at that. That was sold out, too. Wait a minute. "Similar Cruises"? Never saw that button before. Curious, I looked at that. There was one cruise.

"A 13-night cruise touring the Far East, then sailing to beautiful nearby Arutomare, a city surrounded by legends. There will be plenty there to educate and entertain you, plus, there are a few secrets to this city. We can't tell you what those are, but we are sure there is plenty to entertain you for the week you'll be staying there. Below is an itinerary." It listed it departing from San Francisco, California the first day, visiting Hong Kong, China the third day, going to Kaoshiung, Taiwan on the fourth day, Tokyo, Japan the fifth day, at sea the sixth, then at Arutomare day 7 through 13, then back at San Francisco the 14th day.

Basically, typical Far East cruise, except for this "Arutomare" place. What cruise stopped for a week in one city? Was is really _that_ interesting? "Surrounded by legends"? "Secrets to this city"? What did that mean? The photos and panoramas looked nice, and it bragged of "diverse wildlife". This city looked a lot like Venice...except that there was no map on the site showing where Arutomare was. I bookmarked the site and Googled for "Arutomare". Okaaay. Looked like some weird Japanese TV show website. I looked at that for a second, hoping it had some real info on this place, but it didn't. Anyways, I took a look at the cruise liner they would be using. About 200 passenger capacity. Certainly not the biggest cruise liner around. Inside, $1,099, Oceanview, $1,299, Balcony, $1,799, Suite, $2,299. They said they weren't using as much fuel as they were staying a week in Arutomare, explaining the low price. This was also the liner's first cruise. Now all I needed was a plane to California, and a well-timed plane back home so I could get back to school on time. At least finding that was pretty easy. Two early flights, one the day the cruise started and one after the cruise ended. Luckily, those were pretty easy to book. I got myself an oceanview room for the cruise, so all I had to do now was wait.

One week later, 30,000 feet, Flight 380, Seat 381, 2:49 A.M.

I had to get up at about midnight to get through all the airport security. What a pain. Oh, well, at least I got to the flight on time and was on my way now.

People looked at me strangely when they heard my original Game Boy beeping out 8-bit sounds almost the whole plane ride. Yes, I'm a Nintendo freak. I don't want to hear it. I'm sure everybody was bugged by the Game Boy going for seven hours, and probably sang praise in their head when the batteries died seven hours later. Well, actually, one guy stood up and yelled out "Thank you, God! It's finally over!". Sheesh, you don't have to make _that_ big of a deal out of it. I saw another kid nearby playing his red DS with his headphones on. I'd say he was about 14, playing some odd game. I shrugged and lied on my seat. No room to put the seat back in coach, though. Just as I closed my eyes, though, the flight attendant came through to say we were making our decent. I buckled my seatbelt as the plane started heading downwards.

On the ground, outside the airport, 9:42 A.M.

Finally, out of that cramped coach seat. Maybe I should have at least gotten a second class seat. I wondered if anyone else was going on that cruise. It seemed like there were mostly people going to business trips on that plane flight. I also needed to get to San Francisco Bay...the cruise left at 11:00. Luckily, there was no shortage of taxis at the airport. I flagged one down, and I was on my way to San Francisco Bay.

10:45 A.M., at San Francisco Bay, about $18.50 lighter.

Great...about 15 minutes to find my cruise in San Francisco Bay. At least they said where the ship would be. After running for about ten minutes, I finally made it to the ship that I would be cruising on. I gave the guard at the ramp my pass to get the key to my room and ran on board. Of course, the guard _had_ to tell me I was the last one there. That always seemed to happen. Or maybe I didn't notice when I wasn't late. It didn't matter, though. I got here before it left and that was what mattered. For a ship that held 200 people, though, it didn't look like there was nearly that many. Mostly younger people like me, wanting a vacation, or at least that's what I assumed they wanted. I saw a few adults, but not very many. Amongst the random chattering, I heard something directed at _me_.

"Hey, I remember you! I saw you on the plane ride here!"

I looked to see the same kid that I saw on the plane in front of me. He had a blue, long-sleeved shirt, denim jeans, and a classic Game Boy case slung on his shoulder, carrying a moderately thick white binder. He had brown hair and hazel eyes.

"My name's Dallin. What's yours?" he asked.

"Steven."

"So, how old are you?"

"17."

"Heh...I know I don't look it, but I'm 16."

Wow. I thought he was 14 when I first saw him. Suddenly, the boat started up.

"Well, now that the boat's started up, might as well get my room ready. See you, Steven." Dallin said and ran off.

I guess it was time for me to do the same. I headed into the boat to look for my room. I found it a few minutes later. Room 25. I unlocked the room and looked around. Not bad. Nice view, too.

"Lucky! You get an oceanview room." I heard Dallin say from behind me.

"Yipes!" I wasn't expecting him to show up again. "Hey, I'm trying to set up my stuff in here!"

"Oh, right...sorry..." he said and closed the door. I locked it just in case someone else decided to show up and after I set up my room, looked out the window, wondering what this trip would be like. Especially this mysterious Arutomare...


	2. Chapter 2: Suspicions

Finally, I got my room set up. I spent a lot of time in that room, too, because I forgot I needed to learn the basics of a few languages before I got to these places we were going. I was really going to sound like a tourist. I didn't really see much of anybody because I was in my room so much. On the second night, though, I went up to the deck to get some fresh air. And since no one was up, I decided to start playing a bit of Pokémon Pearl, too. I would've played it on the plane (and used my headphones), but I forgot to charge the batteries before I left. But as I was playing, a voice sounded behind me.

"I didn't know you played Pokémon-" It was him again...Dallin. I yelped slightly in surprise. I didn't even hear anything move on the deck, but there he was. I was so tired of people pointing that out, so tired of people heckling me over it, I cut his sentence off.

"Yes, I am, there's nothing you can do about it, and I'll stay that way. I don't want to hear it." I said.

Dallin stepped back and looked a bit offended. "Geez...you could let me finish what I was going to say. I'm actually really interested in Pokémon." he said.

Wow. To tell the truth, that was the last thing I would've expected from a guy who was 16. Then again, I was 17, and I'll bet he was surprised to see me interested in it, too.

"Well, "really interested" is an understatement...I think I should show you." he added, starting to walk off. I followed him until we got to room 151. When he opened up the door, I couldn't even see the walls. They were covered with papers. Drawings of Pokémon everywhere. Yes, it was certainly an understatement. Even "completely crazed" couldn't describe this.

"Yeah...I don't think there's words to describe this." I said, finding myself thinking that he probably had a lot of free time on his hands. "What do you do for a job, anyways?" I asked.

"Um...I don't have one. Not yet, anyways. I was lucky to even be able to go." he replied.

"Hmm? What do you mean?"

"My parents have to be the most paranoid people I've ever seen." he replied with a slight laugh. "I practically had to beg and plead to get here, especially with this being a place that isn't even on any maps, but it'll be worth it."

"Why? What's there, anyways?"

Dallin suddenly hesitated. "Erm...I heard it's really interesting." he said. That was weird. He suddenly had a huge change in his voice there. He probably knew something about this place.

"But I don't even know anybody that's even heard of this place." I objected. "Do you know somebody that's been there or something?"

Dallin really looked like he was groping for an answer. "Um...er...I...guess you could say that..."

"Does that mean you haven't? You just heard from somebody you don't know?" I asked.

"No...I know...somebody that lives there...that's what I mean..." Dallin said. So that was it. But why did he still look so nervous? Almost like he didn't even want to answer any of this. But why? Why was he so hesitant to answer? He sounded almost like he had talked himself into a corner.

"You know, it's getting late. We should both be going to sleep. It's going to be quite a day tomorrow, going to Hong Kong and all." Dallin suddenly said.

"But...but wait! I want to know more about-" I started, but got cut off.

"Look, we're both tired, and you know it...I'm sure whatever you need to know about can wait until tomorrow." Dallin said. Since it was his room, I did have to leave, but now I was mostly left wondering what he knew about this Arutomare place that I didn't as I walked to my room. I slept before we reached our first destination the next day. Hong Kong.


	3. Chapter 3: First Sighting

Journal Entry, Far East/Arutomare Cruise, Day 3, 8:45 PM  
>Finally started typing what's been happening on my computer. Whatever happens, I don't want to forget it. Well, actually I might, given the state of this spring break so far. But, anywho, onto what happened today.<br>Gah, talk about a rough day. Damned if I ever set foot in Hong Kong again. I got lost twice, my grasp of the language was so off that I could hardly ask for any directions, and I was close to being late for the cruise to depart. And, to top it all off, in my inability to speak the language, I got socked across the face when I was asking for directions. From what he yelled at me, I think I insulted his mom or something. It was pretty obvious something happened, too. I had a black eye from that little incident now.  
>As I got back on the ship, people gave me looks like "What happened to him?" As if on que to me thinking that, I heard, "Man, what happened to you?" Dallin again. Why was this guy following me around? Did he have nothing better to do?<br>"H-hey, what's that look for?" he asked. Oh, great...it was my face. Usually what I was thinking was pretty obvious by my expression. My face was pretty easy to read, which was often not such a good thing.  
>"Nothing...I just don't want to talk about what happened." I said.<br>"Um...oh, okay...well, I guess there's some stuff I've got to do, too..." he said, then ran off. I went off to my room. As I walked down the hall I really started to wonder about this Arutomare place again, and the cruise itself. Why were there so few people on this cruise? What was the place, and what was so interesting about it, anyways? And what did Dallin know about it that I didn't? He certainly was hiding something yesterday.  
>Then I realized, his room was right up ahead. I was about to knock, but the door was open a little bit. He had snuck up on me before, so I peeked into his room. He was talking on his cell phone, drawing something on a sheet of paper. As if he didn't have enough sketches already. I couldn't see what was on the paper, except at kind of looked like a dragon...or a bird, maybe. Besides, at the time, I was more interested in what he was saying, anyways.<br>"Yeah, I wish you could've come with me...I just hope this place is what I think it actually is." he said, then paused, probably letting the other person speak, but I couldn't hear anything on the other end.  
>"Yep, that's exactly what I mean by it. I hope I can see them."<br>Another pause. "You know who I mean, I'm sure. I can't talk too loud because this Steven guy from the cruise is peeking through my door and listening in." he said, looking over at me with a smirk. Wh-wh-what? Dang, he knew the whole time...did he just leave the door open to see if anybody would peek in?  
>"All right, I'll talk to you later." he said, then hung up, flipping the paper over. He walked over to the other side of the door, looking right at me. "Nice try, but you're going to have to find out about Arutomare yourself...I can't tell you." he said, then shut the door.<br>"Argh! I have to know!" I thought, but I came so close to yelling that thought. Damn it! It seemed like I was close to figuring something out, too, and now I was just even more confused. Now I was wondering what was with this kid now, but for a different reason. It seemed like he knew everything about this place, but he wouldn't tell anybody about it.  
>Then I realized, he probably thought I had left. I listened to hear him mutter something...yes, he was talking to himself. Talk about weird. "I can't let him know...I have to keep them safe...I can't let anything happen to them..." I kept listening, but he never said who "they" were. This was getting frustrating. Either there was something whacked about the place we were headed, or Dallin was just weird, which actually wouldn't surprise me. I took my mind off of that, though, thinking about where we were going tomorrow. Taiwan. Great...I hated trying to speak Taiwanese. I knew it better than Chinese, though, so, hopefully, I wouldn't get another black eye from a language mistake this time.<p>

Journal Entry, Far East/Arutomare Cruise, Day 5, 2:55 AM  
>Well, I didn't get injured from my lack of knowledge of Taiwanese, but my misunderstanding of the language made me misunderstand someone's directions, so I ended up getting lost in Kaoshiung for most of the time I was there. What a waste of time. Some fun spring break I'm having, huh?<br>Not much to say there, but there's a reason that I didn't write this journal until early the next morning. Firstly, I was trying to catch up on my Japanese all night. I am actually pretty good with Japanese, since I was planning on working there someday, probably as a game designer.  
>Secondly, I forgot about it until now. Yeah, I stayed up really late. I was the only one up on the dock, sitting there with my laptop, studying. It was silent except for the water splashing the sides of the boat. It was a full moon that night, too. But, as I looked up at the moon, I saw something there.<br>I just saw a shadow. It kind of looked like a dragon or a bird of some kind. It looked down at the liner, but then it stared straight at me. Its glowing blue eyes locked to my own, its gaze piercing straight into me. Just as suddenly as I saw it, though, it disappeared. I tried to look for it in the sky, but it was gone. After that, I went back to my room with one thought on my mind. "What the hell was that?" I know that's weird...I'm sure that I'm hallucinating now. I swear I'm going crazy...actually...if this had anything to do with what Dallin was drawing earlier, then maybe I could find out about- Nah, I'm probably just going crazy. I need to get to sleep before I go insane.  
>Tomorrow's stop, Tokyo, Japan.<p> 


	4. Chapter 4: Attack

Journal Entry, Tokyo, Japan, Day 5, 4:59 PM

Well, no one is going to believe me if they ever read this from here on out, but I saw...it again. At least, I think I did. And the circumstances...I don't think it was a coincidence. Before I get too far ahead of myself, I'll explain what happened.

I was sitting on a bridge in Nogawa Park during my time in Japan, minding my business, enjoying the view. Sometimes people walked by, but for the most part, people weren't around me that much. Strange that the place I enjoyed the most about this trip so far was just a place where I could get some peace and quiet, sitting on a bridge over the river, watching the scenery. I was probably there for hours. But after about two o'clock is when the peace stopped.

"Heeeey, Steve-o!" I heard a voice say...no...him again?

"It's Steven." I said. Steve-o? What the heck was that? Was he putting some nickname on me now? "And besides, this is a place for peace and tranquility, please don't just start yelling."

"Um...sorry." he muttered, just sitting there. Though, after a little while, I forgot about him, just getting lost in the scenery. Finally, after remembering he was there again, I decided to ask him a few things, assuming he'd answer.

"So, why are you going on this cruise, anyways?" I asked. He seemed more like the type who'd stay at home. Heck, he still had his laptop case on his back. Well...it looked a bit bigger than that, but I knew he had his laptop in there.

"Er...I'm just visiting...um...some people that I know." he said, hesitating. There was that change of voice again. But I pretended to believe him, so I could try and find out more.

"Hmm...so, what do you know about this place? This...Arutomare? What makes it so special?" I asked.

"What, didn't you try to research it?" he asked.

"Well, I did...I couldn't really find anything. Why?" I said.

"See...there's not much to know. At least, not anything publically available. Why do you think there's not that many people on this cruise? An unknown destination, a maiden voyage liner, a practically unknown cruise company. I'm surprised you're going if you don't know much about it." he said. But he was still stepping around what I wanted to know.

"Yes, but, what do you know about it? Why are you really going?" I asked.

"I just know a couple of people there, so I...you know, I thought it would be safe." he said.

"But, yesterday, what were you saying that was there that you needed to keep safe?" I asked, finally playing a card here.

He looked a bit shocked. "Ergh...wait...you heard that? I...um...I can't tell you about that..." he said, looking a bit nervous and scared.

"Come on, what could be that secret there?" I asked, a bit incredulous about how nervous he was getting here. "What could be so secret there that you're scared to tell anyone?"

"I can't! Even if I wanted to, I can't!" he blurted out.

"What are you-?" I started, then he started going nuts.

"It'll...it...I can't tell you!" he yelled out, then he looked out to the water, suddenly going wide-eyed, bolting to a standing position. I looked out to the water, seeing a jet stream speed across the water, and something big and blue streaking right in front of it. I could see people running from the lake as it sped...right...towards...us. I tried to stand up to run, but it went right over the bridge, the wind force alone pushing both of us off the bridge and into the water. Luckily, it's not a very big drop at all. I swam back up, sputtering, climbing back up onto the bridge, looking around in a panic.

"What the hell was that?" I yelled, a bit mad and scared at the same time. But then I saw it coming again, just as Dallin was climbing out of the water, coughing. Then I could see it come back, knocking me off the bridge again, which I held onto, but I looked back to see that...thing pushing him right over the water, before it took off into the air, sending him skipping across the water before he came to a standstill, floating still on top. I dropped into the water and swam towards him...it looked like he went unconcious. I swam as fast as I could towards him, getting his face out of the water when I got to him, soon dragging him out of the water. He started coughing up water, sitting up, looking scared out of his mind, with several people looking at us curiously.

"Okay, what in the hell was that?" I demanded of him. "If you know, tell me!"

"No...I can't...say any more!" he stuttered and ran off, faster than I'd ever seen him run. Really, really weird. I was getting kind of scared to get to this place. It was causing trouble, and we hadn't even gotten there yet. I had to start walking to get to the boat, soaking wet now, and now getting paranoid. Was that thing...watching us? Or was it just watching me...or him? Or just a coincidence?

Journal Entry, Far East/Arutomare Cruise, Day 6, 11:37 PM

I don't know what to think now. Tomorrow, Arutomare. I still don't know jack about this place, and right now we're in the middle of a huge storm. I'll explain from the beginning.

Dallin was a stuttering wreck this morning...at least from what little I saw when he wasn't locking himself in his room. By afternoon, he was fine, kind of. He was out of his room, at least. Though, he was very, very quiet. Wasn't responding to anybody. Yesterday must have shaken him up quite a bit.

The strangest thing, though...if I tried to bring up what happened yesterday, he'll say he "can't say anything" or "it might come again". Either he was being extremely paranoid, or he knew what that thing was. Or both.

When I visited his room again, I saw him standing his laptop on the table, the keyboard and screen facing downwards. I was a bit curious as to the computer's position. He saw that and replied. "Well when...that happened yesterday, my laptop went into the water with me. I'm trying to dry it out." he said. "Look, you'll have to leave, I need to-" he started, and was interrupted by a "bing" from the speaker system.

"Attention, all passengers, go to the nearest available room, or stay in your current rooms. We will be experiencing some turbulent seas ahead, and we ask all passengers to stay in their current rooms." a voice over the speakers said.

"Great..." Dallin muttered. "But, I know you want to know what's going on, but you saw what happened. I can't tell you any more about this place." he said, playing on his DS now. I wasn't going to find out anything from him.

"Do you at least know what language they speak there?" I asked.

He only shrugged. "I think some English, some Japanese. Not sure, really." he said. I just sighed. He didn't seem to know the basics of this place, and yet, he seemed to know something else behind it. Strange, indeed. What was he fixated on there? At this rate, I'd never figure it out.

Yes, this does mean I am writing this from his room. Guess I'll have to wait for the captain to say we can go freely about the ship again. The storm really was pounding the ship, making it rock. I'm nervous, but there's really nothing to do but wait and see what happens. As I looked over at him from my typing, I noticed he seemed to keep looking at the window, like he was afraid something would come in. Strange, indeed. Was he afraid that thing would jump us again? It's making me worried, so I'm just going to play some games here. I'm going to report again tomorrow morning, hopefully.


	5. Chapter 5: Confusion

Journal Entry, Far East/Arutomare Cruise, Day 7, 5:15 AM

Finally, the storm is over, I'm back in my room. After all that happened, though, I really doubt I'm going to be sleeping. And Arutomare is close. Maybe I'll be able to figure out what's going on. If he wouldn't tell me, I'd have to figure it out for myself. What that thing was, why it attacked us...what it had to do with Arutomare. Also, maybe why it had been...stalking us. I had seen it twice, and ever since the first time, I've had this strange feeling of paranoia that something's been watching me. Whether it was just me and Dallin or the whole ship it was watching, I didn't know.

And as for this...Arutomare place. I didn't know anything about it, either. I guess I'd be finding out. I had a whole week to explore the place, after all, so I'm sure I'd be able to find out plenty about it. As far as I knew, this was the only cruise ship to go to this place so far, so I didn't even know how much even the cruise line managers knew about this place. Hopefully it was more than I knew.

I also have another bad feeling. That thing had been following us since a couple of days ago. What if there were other creatures like that at this place? From what it had done before, it seemed pretty powerful. It was even flying by hovering. It never used its wings. They weren't even thick enough to fly, only stabilize. If it could fly by hovering...what else could it do? I hope that those thoughts are just me being paranoid. I should try and get at least a few hours of sleep...though I doubt I'll be able to.

Journal Entry, Far East/Arutomare Cruise, Day 7, 11:48 PM

I knew there was something weird about this place. If I wake up because I was in a giant coma, I don't think I'd be surprised. This place is unbelievable. And I'm not sure if it's in the best way. It's in more of a scary way.

At first it was amazing. The place really was quite similar to Venice. The boats, the people walking around...but there was one thing that wasn't right. It wasn't right at all. Turned out I was right about those creatures, but I expected them to be running wild. Some of them seemed like they were, but some of them had collars, despite how dangerous a few of them looked. And it might seem a bit strange when I say that some of them looked familiar. Some of the creatures I saw were a very large black and gray dog, and a huge orange, white and black furred dog. And when I say huge, I mean HUGE! I had worked with German Shepherds and Rottweilers before, so I knew about big dogs. That black and gray dog, whatever it was, was a big dog. But this thing...it was as tall as I was, and it was on all fours! The owner assured me it was tame, but, I didn't get too close to it. I was obviously very nervous, seeing something like that.

There were plenty of other weird things, what seemed like lizards, maybe...dragons, birds...huge birds, sometimes! I still couldn't shake the feeling I should know about this somehow. They ranged from the mundane to...almost indescribable. I could've sworn I saw a giant ferret at one point. I really thought to myself, I needed to wake up...I must've still been asleep on the ship. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to be the case.

The strangest thing that happened, though, was as I was heading back. I was looking at a map I had got, walking back to the port, when something stood in my path, about waist high to me on all fours. It looked like a pink furred cat, with a pink tail, and what seemed like a red gem on its head. But, the creepiest part, and the part I noticed when it stared at me, was its eyes. The outside of its eyes was purple instead of white, instead the irises were white and, the scariest part, it had no pupils. No, I stand corrected. That was only the scariest part in its appearance.

The scariest part of all is when it stared at me, it felt like something was probing into my brain...I wanted to run, but I could hardly move! All I could do was watch as it slinked towards, then jumped at me. By this time, I could move, but not for long enough to keep it from pouncing me to the ground, then staring at me again. As it did, my mind started to...actually go calm. I should've been scared, but I started to feel my eyes flutter. Then a loud, sharp noise woke me up, and even made this creature jump in surprise! I could see a man with a white shirt and black trenchcoat in front of me, the creature turning around. Which was rather inconvenient for me, since it hadn't bothered to get off of me first, its tail moving against my face.

Then he spoke in an almost creepily quiet, calm voice. "Now, Espeon, you know better than to do that to people..." he said, snapping his fingers twice, the creature getting off of me, and walking over to who I assumed was its master. Espeon. That really seemed familiar, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. "Sorry about that...she's a good girl, but she likes to wander off and cause mischief sometimes." he said, then seemed to see my look of confusion as I looked at the creature. He only chuckled. "You're not from around here, are you? It would probably be best for you to be careful." he said. Great, those were comforting words. "You take care, stranger..." he said as he walked off. I wanted to say something, but a mix of shock and what seemed like a physical effect stopped me. Was it what that creature had been doing? Was that why I couldn't seem to get any words out? It was able to make me totally freeze up and start lulling me asleep with only so much as a stare! I decided to get back to the boat as quickly as I could.

When I got back, I took a look at the people on the boat. A lot of people seemed confused, some scared, even. I didn't blame them. Dallin just looked amazed. Then he saw me, and how I looked.

"What's wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost." he said.

I only looked at him incredulously. "A ghost? I think ghosts would be better! What is up with this place?" I asked. "I've seen giant birds, dogs, cats...ferrets...some stuff I can't even explain!" he said.

Dallin...only chuckled. "I can't believe you haven't figured it out yet." he said. "I'll leave that to you." he said as he walked off. What was up with this kid? I admit, this did seem oddly familiar, but, why did he just assume I would know? I'm going to take a rest now...a nice rest. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep, though. Maybe I could play some video games, take my mind off of things for now. I'd have to try and figure out more about this place tomorrow.


	6. Chapter 6: Realization

Journal Entry, Far East/Arutomare Cruise, Day 8, 1:36 AM

Oh, God. Oh, hell, no. This can't really be what I think it is. But, it looks like the most likely explaination. But I'm sure if I tried to say this (besides to anyone on the ship) they'd think I'm mad. Stark...raving...mad. Pokemon, that's what's here. I was playing on my Game Boy...and it hit me. Seeing Arcanine really did it to me. That huge dog, that's what it was. And then I thought about all the others, and I realized, that's what they all are here, aren't they? Mightyena, Pidgeot, Linoone...as for that pink-furred one, I don't really remember, but still, these things are supposed to be, you know, fictional! Aren't they?

But, now that I've written down what's going on here, I know I'm not going to forget. At least I brought a camera. A waterproof camera and my scuba gear. Yes, I planned to scuba dive here. Well, sort of. Whoever else happens upon this journal, I don't want to hear it. There's water, okay? We're surrounded by it here. Call me a crazy prepared sort of guy. As for my camera being waterproof, well, I'd had more than one camera ruined by water.

As for if I can get to bed now, I don't know. A lot of these Pokemon, if they do exist, have the power to do things. Crazy, supernatural things. Like, put you to sleep, give you nightmares, control your mind, even. Certainly a prime source of nightmare fuel. I shuddered at the thought of a creature potentially controlling my mind. With these happy thoughts in mind, I should probably at least try to get some sleep. I just need to think about something else. Tomorrow, I should probably find out more. No, something else! I'll think about that tomorrow.

Journal Entry, Arutomare, Cafe Arutomare, Day 8, 8:13 AM

Well, at least this place is somewhat similar. Aside from the occasional creatures in the cafe, it reminds me of a Starbucks, except everything is a lot cheaper. Hah, burn. Yeah, I don't usually go to a Starbucks for that reason. I don't usually drink coffee, either, but in this case, I really needed something to wake me up. I had a really hard time sleeping last night. I forget what the coffee I got was called. I'll just call it the "Cup of Death", because that's what I've always called it. Basically it's pure espresso. It tastes like crap plain, but if you're not addicted to it, it wakes you right up. Which is what I needed.

I did make use of the free wireless here. Interesting thing, I think the internet is different here. I got redirected to a different search engine when I connected, and searching Arutomare got me results this time. Info sites, a museum, tourist information, pictures. Why didn't this come up before? That, and it seemed really strange that my computer was actually able to connect. With so many things being different, I wouldn't have been surprised if my computer had no clue what to do.

And, I think I'm going to leave. I see Dallin at another table. Last thing I needed this morning was another talk with the crazy kid. Though, it is comforting to know that I might not have been the only one that had trouble sleeping.

Journal Entry, Day 8, Far East/Arutomare Cruise, 9:45 PM

"Surrounded by legends." I can't believe it took me that long to figure out the meaning behind that. The real meaning. It doesn't quite mean the place is steeped in lore (although it is) but...legends as in, legendary creatures. As if I wasn't scared enough of this place. The museum seems like a good place to visit tomorrow. I did get some pictures, things from Rattata to Blaziken. You know, I'll go over things from when I left the cafe.

From the moment I got out of the cafe, there were enough creatures to keep me occupied. The first thing I ran into was a group of Rattata, which I took a picture of. It was a good picture, thank God, considering what happened when I took it. Otherwise it would've been a massive waste. I accidentally left the flash on, which got them entirely pissed off at me, glaring at me and then giving chase as I ran away in a panic. Good thing I had that neck strap for my camera, or it would have fallen to the ground in my haste to run. I wonder if Frank West ever felt this way?

After that, though, I heard this deep, low growling behind me. Imagine the scariest growling you've ever heard from a dog. Okay, now imagine it about ten times scarier. A hundred times more if it wasn't a Rottweiler you were thinking of. Turning around, I saw an Arcanine standing over me. Luckily, he had a trainer and he looked familiar. "I did tell you he was friendly before, no?" He was wearing a navy blue hoodie, without the hood on his head, and black slacks, which contrasted his light skinned face, blue eyes, and blonde hair.

"Th-thank you..." I said, stuttering, still out of breath from running away from the Rattata group. "H-hey, you mind...if I get a picture?" I said, still catching my breath.

"Oh, hey, no problem!" he said, getting up next to his Arcanine. I snapped a picture, without the flash this time, since there was more than enough sunlight to go around. The guy was smiling, though the Arcanine was still looking completely badass. I could almost hear Frank West going "Faaaantastic!" I shook his hand and thanked him before going off in search of more photos...with my flash off, of course. Didn't need any other photosensitive creatures wanting to murder me.

You'd think wandering around and sharing the streets with a huge mix of humans and creatures would've creeped me out, but I suppose my familiarity with them helped. Not that I'd seen them in real life before this, but at the very least, I knew what they were. I got several shots of the crowded streets. My camera was high-resolution enough that I could probably pick out specific creatures from the crowd when I looked at the pictures later. I also got close-up shots of a Blaziken and a Scyther. Though, the picture of Scyther was a zoomed in one, because I didn't really feel like getting close to something that had blades for arms, even if it was tame. Hey, you try seeing one, and see how close to it you're comfortable with.

I also got a picture of a Linoone and one of a couple of Pidgeotto in an alleyway. And I can tell you something about Linoone right now. The Pokedex entry we have that says they run only in straight lines is total bull. At least I didn't figure that out because it was chasing me or something. It was running after something else. I thought it was running after me at first, though. I wonder if they sell stun guns for tourists here? I brought scuba gear, but I didn't bring a stun gun? So much for being crazy prepared.

And while we're on the subject of wanting a stun gun, what else should I see when I tried to head out of the alleyway than that pink-furred creature again? How? Last time I met it, it was clear on the other end of town! That same jewel in its head, those same, weird, purple outside and white inside pupilless eyes. I tried to get past, but it always got in the way, jumping off the nearby alley wall and pushing me back. I tried running the other way, but it simply leaped in front of me and did the same thing. I turned the flash on on my camera and took a picture, hoping the bright flash would scare it off. No such luck...it didn't even flinch. I kept looking through the camera, hoping a lack of direct eye contact would help me, taking several more pictures, still using the flash.

I must have annoyed it, because I suddenly felt a sharp pain going through my head. I clutched my head, dropping my camera, collapsing to my knees and screaming. Yeah, it was that bad. It felt like something just stabbed my brain! Well, on the bright side, the neck strap on my camera stopped it from braining itself on the stone of the alleyway. Which is good, that camera was expensive.

Not that I was thinking about that much at the moment, though. When I looked up, I could see it looking into my eyes again...once again, I was unable to look away. The gem on its head was glowing as it stared at me. I couldn't believe this was happening again! What in the world did it want with me?

Luckily, this time it lost interest in me and leaped away out of the alley. Or at least, I thought it lost interest in me. I stood up to see a couple of people coming down the alleyway. It might have heard them and ran off. At this point, I decided to take the main roads back to the ship. I didn't want to risk another run-in with the creepy demon cat thing.

And now I'm back at the ship, looking over these photos, trying to figure out everything that's in them. Especially the pink furred cat thing. I could've sworn someone told me the name of it yesterday, but I couldn't remember it. I'll be writing another entry when I figure out everything in these photos.

Journal Entry, Day 8, Far East/Arutomare Cruise, 11:25 PM

Well, that's one mystery solved. Espeon. That's what that thing is that now seems to be stalking me. Why a weird, pink-furred, crazy-eyed cat with psychic abilities and extra-sensory perception was following me around, I had no idea. Maybe it was just messing with me for fun?

On the plus side, I got some group photos filled with so many high-quality images of the different creatures, I'm sure at least one "faaaantastic" would slip out of my mouth if I was...okay, I think I've run that joke into the ground now. I'll try not to mention Frank West in this journal again.

It's late, though. I need sleep just as much as the next guy, but it's going to be hard to sleep, with the thoughts that there's some crazy stalker Espeon that seems to like following me around out there somewhere. Sigh...sweet dreams, Steven, sweet dreams, indeed. Assuming it doesn't eat my dreams. Ugh, great, now I'm never going to get to sleep.


	7. Chapter 7: Paranoia

Journal Entry, Day 9, Far East/Arutomare Cruise, 9:05 AM

I'm pretty sure I locked my door and my window before I went to sleep...pretty sure. But when I woke up, my freaking door was unlocked, slightly ajar, and nothing was stolen from the room. Talk about confusing. Who would possibly go into my room and not take anything? Or...what. Maybe it wasn't a person. I'll try not to think about that, though...ugh, last thing I need is something sneaking into my room now. That's it, I've got to look for a few things while I'm in town today. This place is making me paranoid.

Journal Entry, Day 9, Arutomare Museum, 3:30 PM

Well, first things first, I went to a shop to get a stun gun. Some shop like "The Merchant's Arms & Munitions". It was a small little shop. The guy looked like a drug dealer, black trenchcoat and hood with a mask covering half his face. As I walked in, he laughed a bit creepily. "Heheh...welcome!" he said, spreading his arms out, as if to show off the selection of his store. "Got a selection of good things on sale, stranger!" he said as I looked around. Weird...you know, at that point, I felt like I should recognize that voice. It was probably nothing, though.

As I brought the stun gun to the counter, he chuckled. "Ah, a fine choice of weapon! A great high-voltage, low-amperage weapon. It will work on a surprising variety of targets. You could stun an Arcanine with that." Well, that sounded perfect. I'd just have to hope whatever I run into isn't immune to electricity. I don't remember what kind of currency he wanted...it was something I'd never heard of before, but luckily, there was a conversion to US dollars. "Ahhh...a tourist, aren't you, stranger?" Well, I thought it was pretty obvious I was already. After I paid and thanked him, I turned to leave as he laughed again. "Come back any time..." That guy was starting to give me the creeps with that voice.

But I won't have to worry about it any more. This museum is strange for a museum, though. They're not like our own, where we focus mostly on different artifacts and fossils and things like that. This museum seemed to focus more on the mythology and lore of the island. All of the different legendary creatures that do/have/supposedly have lived there. Though, they did focus on others that didn't live there, in other areas, it seemed. I didn't think that there would be other places like this, but I should've known. I'll be perfectly honest, too. Some of these legendaries would be so scary to see face to face, and I would defy any Pokemon fanboy to prove me wrong. Some just for their sheer size, others for the kinds of powers that they possess. Though several were scary because they had an unholy combination of both kinds of fear.

As I went through, though, one of the life-sized models caught my eye...yeah, they made life-sized models, which was why I was commenting on how scary their sheer size would be earlier. Anyways, it caught my eye because I felt like I'd seen it before...and not in a game, but in real life. I knew what they were. Latios and Latias, but seeing them life-sized like this, made me remember the run-ins. When I saw its shadow against the moon...when me and Dallin had that encounter with it in Japan. "No way..." I muttered to myself. Unless my memory really failed me, I had seen Latios before, then! But why would he have been following us? Did we do something to provoke it? With the kind of powers it supposedly had (part of which I could attest to), I hoped not. Last thing I needed was a pissed off Latios following me.

I also found something really useful there, too. There's a website here meant for looking up information on the different Pokemon. That could definitely come in handy. I won't bother writing the link down here. If things are any indication, it wouldn't work back home, but I do have it written on my computer. You know, so I can remember it and in case I visit again. Though, I'm not sure if I would. It's pretty scary with all these powerful creatures wandering around. And the scariest part was, we ran into Latios in Japan, so it doesn't seem like there's anything keeping them here. I had to shudder at that thought, honestly. This is the kind of stuff we usually consider supernatural. It almost felt like an entirely different world...maybe it was.

Hmm...maybe I should just download the entire website one of these nights? It wouldn't hurt to try. As for what to do tomorrow...I could get some more pictures...maybe do some scuba diving in the city. There had to be underwater creatures, too. Though, whether I actually wanted to run into them or not...well, who knows what I would run into? But, still, I might as well do it. I've already come here, I might as well experience as much as I can.

I should probably get out of here. That statue of Darkrai standing there near me is creeping me out. At least, I'm assuming it's a statue. That's it, I'm getting out of here. Sheesh, even the museum is making me paranoid now!

Journal Entry, Day 9, Far East/Arutomare Cruise, 8:45 PM

I think it's time to call it official. That Espeon is stalking me. Why is it? What does it want from me? I really don't know. All I can say is, I'm glad electricity works on it just as well as most other organic life forms. I'll have to explain how this one happened, too.

I tried to take the main roads on the way home this time, but somehow, the Espeon had still managed to find me, and had tackled me off into a side alley. I tried to run off, but once again, it was managing to keep me right where I was. It just looked at me, its tail moving softly. I really didn't know what it wanted, and I couldn't exactly ask it to find out.

I had tried to run one more time out of the side road, but it once again jumped in front of me with its stunning agility and hit me hard enough to knock me over, just walking towards me. Suddenly, I remembered the stun gun, pulling it out quickly. The strangest thing, now that I think about it, was that the Espeon had a stunned look on its face before I pulled it out, not after, but it still didn't react in time, it trying to jump out of the way, but it twitched as I assumed the stun gun had hit its mark, it falling onto the ground as I ran off. I felt a bit sorry that I had to do that, but I couldn't have just let it keep me there.

Now that I think about it, maybe I shouldn't have done that. It had been pissed off at me when I tried to blind it with my flash, I could only imagine what it was feeling after this. Okay, I'm scared now. I am not sleeping tonight. I can't. I'm locking the window and the door and I am not sleeping. I'll just...play some Burnout or something...Paradise on my laptop. Yeah, I'll just stay awake. Then nothing can sneak up on me.

Journal Entry, Day 10, Far East/Arutomare Cruise, 1:24 AM

Still awake. Still paranoid that something's watching me. I can almost feel it. My body wants to go to sleep so badly, but my mind doesn't! I'm afraid, though. I don't want to fall asleep, but it'll happen eventually. Then I'm sure I'll be defenseless. Defenseless against anything that could get inside the ship. I hoped that wasn't anything, but...it was possible. I just need to stay awake...sta aake. No, stay awake, aware! I have to...I don't want that 


	8. Chapter 8: Hidden Garden

Journal Entry, Day 10, Far East/Arutomare Cruise, 11:35 AM

Ugh...I had the most horrible dreams last night. It felt like every dream I had, some horrible abomination came into my mind before it just went blank. Needless to say, I didn't sleep very well. Was something doing this to me...or was it my paranoia itself that was doing this to me? Never mind it, though. I'd be in the water today. Sure, I don't know what was down there, but, at least, hopefully, my new stalker wouldn't be able to follow me. Get something to eat, get on my scuba gear, maybe I'll find something interesting. Besides, some underwater pictures might end up turning out interesting.

Journal Entry, Day 10, Cafe Arutomare, 12:10 PM

Yeah, I need my Cup of Death to keep me awake. Again. Nightmarish abominations in your sleep don't help with resting much, so it was what I needed. Try telling that to Dallin, though. Compared to my lethargic looking state that morning, he seemed bright and awake. I tried to hide behind a newspaper, but it didn't work.

"Oh, come on, why are you hiding from me? I can't possibly be getting to you that much." he said...or something like that. I didn't remember exactly. I found out he wasn't drinking coffee, though...but why the heck would you come to a coffee shop for hot chocolate? Eh, whatever, I'm not here to question that. There's plenty of other, weirder questions I could be asking about him. Especially since a few thoughts in my head had been clicking together recently.

"Well, how about the fact you wouldn't tell me a thing about this place, does that count? If you'd told me, I could've possibly prepared a little better."

"But, nothing that bad's happened to you, right?"

"I have an Espeon stalking me, I almost got murdered by a group of freaking rats, every dream of mine last night ended in a nightmare, and this place is home to the very thing that attacked us before! Nothing that bad! HAH!" I shouldn't have outbursted like that, but he backed off a bit. "Geez...sorry I asked..." he said before running off. I didn't exactly mean to be an ass, but I hadn't been having the best days, and I'm not a morning person. Okay, so technically it's not morning, but if you consider when I woke up, it might as well have been. I'm finishing up and getting out of here. Time to prepare for a little underwater expedition.

Journal Entry, Day 10, ?, 6:45 PM

Yeah, I know I didn't put in a location. I know I'm in Arutomare...somewhere, but...I'm confused about exactly where. The place is amazing, but I can't help this nagging feeling that someone was watching me.

Okay, I need to get in a habit of not getting ahead of myself. I haven't seen anything in here for a while now, so...it should be safe to type this up, anyways. Yeah, I have a waterproof case for my laptop, too. I didn't expect to be bringing it with me, but I thought I might as well.

Anyways, going underwater was a bit of a scary experience, honestly. After suiting up and slipping into the water out of sight...hey, I didn't know if people would appreciate me scuba diving in the waterways, and I thought that's where more of these creatures would be, anyways. Besides, the creatures out in the open ocean were sure to be dangerous.

Not that there wasn't stuff I saw that couldn't be dangerous. At least on land, I could run better. I was slower underwater, while there were creatures around me made for swimming around in the water. As always, though, it was hard to tell whether something was tame or wild. Made me wish I had something that I was sure would protect me. I should've asked that merchant if the stun gun worked underwater. Wouldn't stop me from trying if I really got in an emergency.

Luckily, I didn't have to find out. Nothing did end up attacking me in the water, though there was stuff that got pretty close, and was certainly scaring me. There was some scary, sharp-toothed fish...the best way I can describe it is like piranhas. I was pointing my stun gun at them like a redshirt deciding whether or not to shoot at a Borg drone (which you DON'T, by the way...redshirt tip #34 not to die: do not shoot Borg drones). Thankfully, they left me alone and wandered off.

As I was diving, though, I managed to find some sort of passage that seemed to be hidden under one of the buildings. Way down in the bottom of the waterways, too. I'm pretty sure it was dumb luck that I found it. If I hadn't been swimming along the bottom of the waterway, I'd never have seen it. It seems pretty stupid, but I decided to swim into it. It took a bit of swimming...like, 20 minutes or more. It was so straight most of the way...and the angle the last part was positioned, I'd almost swear it was a launch tunnel. But for what? Putting aside that curiosity, that's how I ended up where I am now.

I'm not quite sure where I am, or where this place is. I'm sure I'm still in Arutomare...um...somewhere. There was all kinds of exotic plants, dense foliage, different animals, I assumed pokemon, jumping around or skittering around. I think the sunlight was artificial, but...from what I could see, it moved on the same day and night cycle. Aside from the occasional skittering about, this place was really peaceful. It seemed almost like this was some hidden, forgotten place, even though somebody would've had to build it. I'll have pictures and another entry later. I think I'm just going to relax for

Abrupt end of message, Last Auto-Save at 6:59:17 PM, Cause: Computer Failure by Blunt Force at High Speed


	9. Chapter 9: Prisoner

Journal Entry, Day 11, Arutomare Regional Hospital, 5:00 PM

Holy...freaking...shit. That's about how I'm going to describe the past, what is it, 20 hours? I don't know quite when I arrived here. Got into the hospital at about 3 in the afternoon, a bit of a rough state. Should be out the next day. Maybe the day after. Once again, getting ahead of myself, I should explain just what in the world happened.

Let's start at the obvious spot. The computer failure. That was something slamming into me, sending my computer crashing and tumbling across the ground, this blue blur bringing me to the ground. I had the wind knocked out of me at this point, trying to stand up. When I tried, it came and slammed into me again. I pulled out my stun gun while I was still on the ground, trying to hit this thing, but it was moving so fast it seemed like it was everywhere at once, knocking the gun out of my hand with another hard slam into me.

Now I was just on the ground, coughing and groaning, and finally this creature stood still. Blue and white down, red triangular marking on its chest, and it was glaring down at me. "No freakin' way. Latios..." I recognized it pretty quickly. This was the same species that had been attacking us. I wondered if it was the same one, though. "Are...are you..." I was trying to get the question out, but I heard a voice.

"Yes, he's been following you. You have your own agenda here, am I right?" The voice was female, which left me confused, until I saw another figure coming up next to Latios. She was human, looked to be 20, at the very least. She had brown-red hair, or something like that, crazy hairstyle, looked kind of like Latios' "hairstyle", but...different somehow. Camo...she was wearing camo, too.

"I have no clue...what you're talking about." I was still on the ground due to the beating from Latios. I really had no clue what she was going on about.

"Don't play dumb with me! The camera, the computer, you coming here. This place isn't public knowledge, and you don't have any reason to be here!" she yelled out at me, kicking me in the side! Gahhh, man, could she kick! "What are you doing here!" she demanded. What in the hell was going on? Was she just insane, or what?

"C-come on, now...just...I found it accidentally...calm down, we'll talk this out." I said, trying to stand up, hand clutching my side. Most of my body was sore by this point. Latios glared at me but this girl held her hand in front of him.

"Wait." she said plainly to Latios, then glared at me. "We'll just see what you're doing here." she went over to my computer and picked it up. It was smashed, but she took it apart and pulled out the hard drive, which still seemed to be intact.

"Who...are you, anyways?" I asked. She just glared at me again, motioning to follow, Latios grabbing me by my shirt and following. Looked like she motioned to him, not me. She didn't start moving until she'd put a blindfold over me. I struggled, but all I got from that was a strong knee to my gut, knocking the wind right out of me. What was this girl's problem? Now I couldn't see anything, and was getting carried off to some unknown place.

After several minutes of being carried by Latios, the blindfold came off and I found myself in a prison cell. "Now you think about whether you want to answer or not before I finish examining this drive. Because if you don't, I'll make you."

"But I told you, I-"

She shushed me and glared. "For now, you be quiet. The data will do the talking first. When I'm back, you better start singing!" she went off to who knows where. The walls were white and the few cells here had clear doors made of some kind of strong material, I assumed. Not that that was needed, with Latios standing guard right there outside my cell. Which was the only occupied one, I might add.

So I waited...and waited. Every time I moved at all, Latios would glare at me. Did he really think I could break out or something? After a few hours, which seemed like much, much longer, crazy chick was back, giving a look that just seemed like it could pierce right through you. "Um...what did I..." I started, before I got cut off.

"So, who are you gathering intel for, huh? Who are you working for?" she asked, looking pissed.

"What did I do?" I asked, just totally lost now.

"Full documentation, pictures, profiles, disguising it as a vacation log. Lengthy password to protect it all. I know you're up to something."

"What are you talking about? That is a vacation log. Okay, I saved a website of a list and pictures of pokemon, but that was public domain, and everyone has a long password on their computer, to prevent hacking!" Yeah, that didn't help here, though.

At this, she pulled out a gun. This gun looked like my stun gun on steroids! "Tell me what you're doing here, who you're working for. I saw your little scuba trip was planned. Why were you looking for this place?"

"There's tourists all over Aruto-"

"Not there! Here! Why did you dive just to get here? Quit playing dumb with me!" she yelled out, snapping her fingers, Latios grabbing me tightly again, dragging me down the hallway.

"I swear, I just found this place, I can just leave, we'll all be fine!" I pleaded, but before I knew it, I was held in place on an upright table by heavy metal clasps, this girl's stun gun running current through, making that ominous sound a taser does when it's running. "I was just diving! It's a hobby!"

"Cut the bullshit, already!" she snapped, pressing the gun to me, sending me into convulsions. There was a terribly painful sensation all through my body as I lost control of my limbs, before, after what felt like forever to me, the shock went away. I gasped for breath and went limp against my bonds. "Who are you with? Rocket? Small-time syndicate? Independent? What are you here for!"

I finally yelled out. "I have no clue what you're talking about! I don't know about any of this, or why this place is so important, just get me out of here! You're going to send me into arrhythmia or something!" This only got me another large dose of electricity, leaving me panting and feeling like I was about to black out.

"What are you hiding!" she hit me across the face. I was starting to think she was completely insane.

"I told you, I don't know anything about whatever you're talking abo-" I got zapped again after this, making me really limp over, barely conscious.

"Agh...dammit. He doesn't tolerate electric shock very well. Latios, get him back in his cell..." I heard before I completely blacked out.

I woke up on the bed, I assumed a few hours later. Though, really, I didn't know. I could overhear a conversation somewhere. Sounded like an older male's voice, and her voice.

"I really don't think he's a part of anything."

"Says who? You remember what's happened before, we can't get careless!"

"You nearly killed the last person you thought was some sort of spy, and nothing. Bianca, you've got to show some restraint!"

"Better safe than sorry! Latios died years ago, we were lucky Latias had children, or...they might've...might have died off. You know that. We can't let that happen, not again."

That was the extent of what I heard before the voices faded. Bianca? My first thought was Rescuers Down Under, but no, I heard that name somewhere else, too. However, I wasn't thinking too straight, or feeling very good, in between the physical abuse and the "electroshock therapy" I got earlier. So I ended up drifting back to sleep in my cell.

Speaking of that, I've got to rest right now. I'll finish this entry in the morning. Got electrical burns and internal and external injuries to rest off. Hopefully, with the doctors that worked here, I should be out by tomorrow. I'm sure I'll have a lot more peaceful a night than last night.


	10. Chapter 10: Torture

Journal Entry, Day 12, Arutomare General Hospital, 8:42 AM

Well, healthcare here is top notch. Should be out of here, at the latest, tomorrow. Must be all that Pokemon Center technology repurposed for human use. I assume. Actually, then again...was there a Center here? I didn't even know. Eh, I'll worry about that later.

But, if anyone ever reads this, you won't want to know about my recovery. You want to know what the heck went on in that garden. Or...wherever I was. I was blindfolded when I was brought there, so I didn't know exactly where I was. Even if I did, I couldn't get out, not with Latios still guarding my cell.

I didn't really know how much time had passed, either. I think it was about ten hours in. If I was losing track of time, I couldn't imagine what it's like for anyone who's imprisoned for a long time. Honestly, I didn't know how long I'd be there, either.

When I did wake up again, everything was sore, especially my abdomen and sides. Probably from getting kneed and kicked so much. I tried to get up from the bed and fell over, clutching my middle. It hurt to stay still, much less to move. I probably would struggle to get out of here even without some powerful being guarding my cell. You know, because the locked, bulletproof, shatter resistant bar-free wall and door wasn't enough. This Bianca was paranoid to the extreme, wasn't she?

Whoever this Bianca was, though, from what I gathered, she was worried about these 'Latis', Latios and Latias, going extinct. I really don't know why she'd think I had anything to do with trying to do something to them, though. If I was trying to gather intel or kill these things, I was pretty ill-equipped to do either one. Aside from the scuba gear, at least. Maybe diving in those waterways wasn't such a hot idea. I certainly got an experience I'll never forget there, just not the kind you'd normally want from a vacation.

My unhealthy dose of hospitality there wasn't done yet, though. I'd had only a couple of hours awake before I heard someone coming down the hall. Bianca again. I visibly recoiled as I saw her again. "Ah, you're awake."

"No, leave me alone!" I yelled. I was still shaken from last time. Having someone run electricity through you tends to make you have a bad view of someone. To my dismay, though, the door opened. I expected Latios to grab me, but Bianca came in, instead, forcing my hands behind my back, smacking my head against the cell wall, hard, making me black out for a second. God, that hurt, made me disoriented, too.

"Funny...I'd have thought you had a less physical way of subduing people." I muttered as Bianca dragged me along.

"Just be thankful it wasn't metal bars." she replied dryly. Before I knew it, I was strapped to that same table again. Hard to keep track of what was going on when you get your head impacted on a wall, no matter what it's made out of.

"Oh, Goddamnit..." I muttered.

Bianca only looked at me strangely. "Great, now he's muttering gibberish." she said to herself. "Never mind, I'll leave you strapped there for a little while. Then we'll have a little talk..." she said, putting a emphasis on that last sentence, especially those last couple of words, getting right near my face as she said it, before leaving. Thank heavens she left. Latios was still standing there, though.

"Really? Okay, seriously, you really think I can escape from all of this?" I said. Latios just huffed at me, still keeping guard. This Latios was just as paranoid as Bianca was. Maybe that's where he got it from.

Though, after a little while, I was actually starting to doze off. Then the sound of an electric arc woke me up. That horrible, horrible sound of a taser in 'drive stun' mode. Well, 'woke me up' is understating it. My eyes shot open and I was screaming, and it hadn't even touched me yet.

"You sound alert enough to talk, so I suggest you start." Bianca said, not running the taser, but putting it near me.

"I-I don't know what's going on. I was just sightseeing. Just taking pictures. The creatures here are walking around, there's...nothing wrong with...pictures..." I was stuttering and really nervous. I felt a sharp pain shoot through my arm, making me gasp and clench, I starting to spasm as she held it there, before she finally took it off.

"I told you already to cut this bullshit act. I'm sick and tired of your little 'tourist' game. No tourist goes scuba diving in public waterways, no tourist is as nosy as you are."

"You'd be surprised...gah!" Another shock, right to my chest, mercifully shorter this time.

"Give me some damn information!"

Finally, I decided to try something else. "What happened to make you this way?"

She glared at me. That...didn't look good, she speaking in a very aggravated tone. "What...?"

"Your conversation. Something that happened. About how you couldn't take any chances any more."

She paused for a moment. I thought I'd gotten to her, but then she just yelled. "How dare you bring that up!" she turned something on the taser before zapping me with it again. Normally, drive tasing isn't supposed to immobilize someone, but this was sending me into powerful convulsions. I hope I never, ever feel pain like that again in my entire life. I was gasping and whimpering after that shock. "How do you know anything about that?"

"Agh...unh, maybe you should make your cells soundproof. I don't know anything about it other than what you were talking about to that older man."

"You mean my grandfather."

"Well, I didn't see anything or hear all that much, so I didn't know who it was...Bianca."

"What? You're not supposed to know who I am..."

"So I don't start thinking my captor's a real person? Building fear so I'll say something to sate you and give you an excuse to do more to me? Torture only does so much. You might get false info out of someone who hasn't done anything, just to get things to stop."

She yelled out. "Aaaagh! Shut up about me and start talking!" The taser visibly sparked before she jabbed it against me, sending me yelling and slamming against the table I was strapped to in violent convulsions again. I didn't think I'd be feeling pain like that any time soon. My vision was a bit blurry, I on the verge of passing out. "Gnnnh...stop...stop, please..." I gasped.

"Not until you tell me what's going on!"

"There's...there's nothing...going on..." I was breathing heavily, struggling to get my words out at this point.

Bianca was practically growling at me at that point. This girl was getting downright insane. "For the love of Arceus, why don't you just talk already!" she yelled really angrily.

"Because there's nothing to-ack!" I got slammed in the head with the handle of the taser in her rage, my head slumping down, vision fading a bit again. "Nngh...my head...cranberry chocolate sundae..." I muttered.

"Why doesn't he just talk?" Bianca muttered to herself. "Latios, take him away." I heard her walk away as the restraints lifted, I too weak to do anything but slump into Latios' grip, sleep's embrace (or something similar to it) taking me again as I was dragged to my cell once more.

Thank heavens I'm here at the medical center now. Ugh, what a way to spend a vacation, recovering from injury sustained by Pokemon and a crazy woman. Well, that's not very nice, but sheesh. Speaking of sleep, I should do that, get some more sleep. Later, there's more to tell.


	11. Chapter 11: Respite

Journal Entry, Day 12, Arutomare General Hospital, 5:13 PM

Ugh, my sleep schedule is going to end up way, way off after this, with me sleeping at random times of the day. Recovering in a hospital bed was not how I imagined spending the day. It's rather amazing that I'll be out tomorrow, though. Now for the story, because I know if you're reading this, you want to hear it, and me babbling about my recovery is probably along the lines of Navi interrupting you, so...here we go.

So, it about 15 hours into my imprisonment. I think. It's hard to keep track of time when you're in a compound with no outside light, no sense of the time of day. Anyways, I started getting dragged out again. I was in the middle of sleeping, and I'm still dragged out for another electric boogaloo...am I even old enough to make a reference like that? Eh, whatever.

Before I even had much time to get back to my senses, I was strapped down again. "Okay, seriously, Bianca. Your brand of hospitality is getting really old."

"Oh, cut the crap. Okay, let's say you aren't up to anything. I'll play along. You're just a crazy person who enjoys scuba diving in public waterways. If that's the case, then why in your right mind would you go into a missile launch tube?"

I paused and looked at her like she was crazy now. "A what now?"

"You swam through a missile launch tube. That's not what it's for now, but...tell me why you'd even consider that, and I might believe you."

"How was I supposed to know that's what it was?" A missile launch tube? What the hell was that for?

She shook her head. "You really are insane. You swim in public waterways through an unknown tube and expect me to believe you're not up to anything?"

"Welcome to the crazy world of tourism. Apparently that's a new thing here or something. So what the heck is that tube for, anyways? Seems like a gaping security flaw to me."

"Hey, I'm the one asking the questions here!" she yelled. Oh, boy, hit another nerve, it looked like. Which meant mine were about to be overloaded. She started arcing the taser, slamming it into my chest, making me convulse and scream again! All I could think to do afterwards was groan.

Both Bianca and Latios were both glaring at me. "Now, why don't you start saying something useful for once?"

I shook my head and groaned. "I told you, I was scuba diving out of curiosity. The wildlife, it's...different than where I'm from, to say the least."

She practically growled. "And you just happened to be around this area? Even though no walkways pass by here?"

"Pretty much, yeah, was swimming for a while."

"Stop trying to feed me your worthless lies!"

"I'm not- urk!" I suddenly tensed up, convulsing again, screaming. It felt like it went on for a good five to ten seconds, at least. "Unnh...kill me...get it over with..." I groaned. My insides burned, and at this point, I wanted it to just stop. I was on the verge of fainting again.

"You little...why? What is wrong with you?" Bianca was just seething now, her gaze piercing into my eyes.

"Continuing to zap me isn't going to magically change my answer. This torture session is a load of crap. You should know, it's happened before. I heard it."

"Well, maybe you should keep your nose out of other people's business!" she yelled, swinging the taser at me.

I was cringing, thinking I was going to be shocked again. But nothing happened. Then I looked to see something similar to Latios...but red instead of blue, with a blue triangle on its chest instead of a red one. I also noticed that Bianca's hairstyle was much more similar to the head of this one. Both Bianca and Latios were looking at it in surprise. "Latias...?" I muttered.

"Latias, what're you-?" Bianca started, but then she suddenly stayed silent for a moment. "What are you saying?" she was silent again for a moment. "But he could be dangerous." It was like Latias was speaking to her. I couldn't hear anything, though. Latias let go of her arm, Bianca turning towards her. "You know that it's you and your children in danger if you're wrong!" she said harshly. Latias just nodded softly. Bianca threw her taser aside. "Well, yes, you haven't been wrong before." Another, longer pause. "Well, even if I wanted to just let him go, we can't let him go like this...never mind, we'll figure it out." The restraints on the chair released, sending me kneeling on the ground, seeing as I didn't really have the strength to stand, Latios grabbing me. "You, get some sleep. We'll figure out what to do here."

I was baffled. Did Latias just...save me from this? I really hope that I get the chance to thank her later. At the time, I was too scared to say anything. Then again, it was too early to really know what was going to happen, either. At least someone seemed to be talking some sense into Bianca. Heaven knows nobody else was.

Hopefully this meant no more therapy sessions as scheduled by Ocelot.


End file.
